Aristidis Tsikouras, Managing Director, GeWeTe. Interview By Peter White
Continental casinos seeking an end-to-end solution for cash handling often as not turn to GeWeTe, a German-based firm with a wide European reach—and ambitions in the North American sphere as well. The company began modestly enough, making change machines 27 years ago.
GeWeTe saw an opportunity within the casino industry, where the change person on the floor used to be omnipresent. GeWeTe’s change machines rendered that function largely superfluous, freeing up casino staff for other customer interactions. The company’s technology gradually evolved to enable debit-card transactions and hopper refills. Under the direction of founder Aristidis Tsikouras, GeWeTe captured 75 percent of German market share and began marching toward domination of the European Union.
“Indeed, ever since 1993 we have constantly increased year-on-year turnover and our staff number has grown significantly throughout the years,” Tsikouras told Casino Life. Being absorbed by the Gauselmann Group only enhanced GeWeTe’s international reach, bringing it into over 150 casinos. Research and development, manufacturing, sales—GeWeTe does it all in-house, simplifying the choices for casinos looking for new solutions in cash handling. While GeWeTe’s solid-state machines may not be the cheapest upfront, they’re built for the long haul (for decades, sometimes) and what is spent on retail is recouped in absence of repair costs. With a durable past to draw upon, Tsikouras sat down with Publisher Peter White to discuss GeWeTe’s promising future.
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